Week of March 6, 2016

At our staff meeting this week we discussed that our new class schedule won’t start for a few more months, so we are trying to take advantage of the time to teach some other things. We will do some Enrichment classes for the last week in April and move another class around so it isn’t so rushed.

A friend wanted me to help her learn to make cinnamon rolls, so we finally got together this week. Heather gave me her recipe which is yummy and we set to work. We didn’t use a mixer to make the dough so my friend will be able to make it on her own. She was so excited and they turned out really good. It was a lot of fun.

Yummy cinnamon rolls - first try!!

We taught our new class of Church Service Missionaries. They are a good group and seem to be fairly computer literate. It is really interesting to me to observe my fellow teachers and see how they present the classes and what they choose to include or not include in the teaching. Ted did a great job teaching as usual. We had a couple of our new trainers teaching. One taught about the Help Center on FamilySearch and a really great job. Usually I sort of tune out some things, but she had the whole group participating in a good discussion and it was very enlightening. Her husband taught a class that I have really enjoyed teaching. I gave him my notes and several files for class handouts. I hadn’t gone through the notes and when he was teaching I realized there were a couple of spots I probably could have given him better instruction on what the notes meant. It was really good though and I think I might change my approach a bit when I teach it again.

When I went walking with my French friend we found the West High School track was busy with some sort of practice. We just walked the neighborhood, going farther than I’d planned. When we turned to return home I found the streets all had a fair incline to them so we began climbing a bit at a time. When the next street was too steep, we’d take a downhill road for a block until we reached a less challenging road. We finally got home, but it was amazing to me how hilly this part of Salt Lake is. And it was such a maze of roads—totally unlike the main part of the city. It was very interesting.

Thursday I taught the entire morning. I taught the unit on FamilySearch partners such as Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com. It was the first time I’d taught it and it had some hiccups along the way. I don’t think anyone else was aware of them, so it went OK. The students were very good at following along on the exercises. I did have a couple of questions thrown at me that I couldn’t answer—can’t remember what they were—but I got through it. I felt good about it anyway.

Friday was our Temple and Research day for March. In the afternoon I went to the international floor of the library and spent quite a bit of time with a lady from Finland. She tried to help me learn how to research in Finland. I’m not sure I will be able to do much on my own just yet, but we did find some good information. I asked her to help me with Sweden as well and I think I’m a little better at that area. I found several records this week in Swedish records. I need to do something with the information I found then talk to her again. I need to spend time on my family cleaning it up, but I also need to do research while we have these records available.

Saturday we went with my cousin and her husband to the graveside service for my uncle that passed away last week. It was really nice and I was very impressed with his life and accomplishments. I was not aware he was part of a bomber crew during the war. The crew flew 45 missions but none of them were injured. He attributed it to the fact that they all lived their covenants. I’m sure he’s right.

It was really a good occasion with the opportunity to visit with cousins I had not seen in many years. I didn’t recognize all of them, but then they didn’t recognize me either. We took a picture with all the Hales cousins then my aunt and her husband took us to lunch. That was also fun, recounting stories about the family and sharing memories. Either then, or when I was visiting with my cousin on the way, I was sharing my memories of my grandpa’s house and the annual events, such as the 4^th of July barbeques and the genii party on New Year’s Day. She remembered the genii party, but had no memory of the barbeques. Maybe they had stopped by the time she was old enough to remember.

The Hales Clan at Uncle Bud's Graveside Service

We discussed how impressive a bunch the family is. Almost every one of the grandchildren has at least one college degree and several have multiple advanced degrees. Education has always been a real hallmark of the family and everyone has been expected to do their best and get as much education as they could. My aunt commented that she felt Grandma Hales was possibly the motivator behind that, encouraging Grandpa to get his degrees and seeing that their children understood the importance of education. I’m grateful for the motivation I have had in my life to do things.